


Infinite Lives

by Burgie



Series: Emily is Katja's Kid AU [1]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 02:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13261902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Emily returns to the house to find that her mother has once more tried to do something nice, in her own strange way. Emily belongs to emilie-catnight on tumblr.





	Infinite Lives

**Author's Note:**

> In loving memory of Fang, Emilie's cat who died last year.

Emily knew that something was up when she came inside to find her mother sitting in the living room with a bandage wrapped around her wrist.

“Oh god, what did you do this time?” asked Emily with a roll of her eyes. The old her wouldn’t have turned her back on a Dark Rider, but she knew Katja better by now so she had no qualms about getting down on her hands and knees to look for her black cat under the very chair that her mother was sitting on.

“She tried to pick up that animal of yours,” said Alex.

“Toothless,” Emily called. Katja sniffed and moved her legs to the side.

“That’s such a stupid name,” Katja muttered. “He certainly wasn’t toothless when he sunk those fangs into my wrist.”

“If they were real fangs, you’d be dead, and we’d all be a lot better off,” Emily muttered, crawling out from halfway under the armchair and sneezing at the dust. She rubbed her nose, looking around the room for a black furry lump.

“Hey, don’t speak to your mother like that,” said Alex, frowning.

“I don’t care,” said Katja with a shrug.

“Did either of you see where my cat went?” asked Emily. “Or were you too busy trying to kiss it better after he ran off?”

“I think he ran into your bedroom,” said Katja. “You’d think he’d be more grateful.”

“For what?” asked Emily. “You don’t know anything about animals, about my cat, hell you don’t know anything about me!” She stalked off to her bedroom, angry that her mother had tried to interfere again.

Emily couldn’t see a lump of cat in her bedroom, nor could she see any strange lumps under the covers. She lifted the sheets up anyway, finding nothing but her pyjamas that her mother had failed to move from under the covers. Emily scowled as she put the pyjamas on her pillow. Her mother was trying too hard, ever since she’d found her. It didn’t matter that Emily didn’t want her interfering, Katja still did it anyway. Of course, it didn’t help at all that she shared a house in Valedale with Alex, who Katja was dating.

“Toothless,” Emily called again, getting onto her belly and peering under her bed. A pair of bright green eyes opened in the darkness. “There you are, come on, what did she do to you this time?” She reached a hand under the bed, patting the floor. Toothless would either pounce on it or slink out from under the bed, depending on his mood. Emily held her hand out, and Toothless butted his head against it before getting up and walking out into the light, stretching as he went in the way that cats were known to do. Emily wriggled out after him, to find her cat standing in front of her. She smiled, petting his head.

Emily scooped Toothless up into her arms, then sat on her bed, petting the purring baby.

“Are you okay? What did that nasty woman do to you?” she cooed at him. Toothless looked fine, all whiskers and toe beans accounted for, and his eyes were clear.

“I made him immortal,” said Katja, and Emily snapped her head up to see her mother standing in her doorway.

“You did what?” asked Emily, angry. “You can’t play god!”

“Says who?” asked Katja.

“Says everyone!” said Emily. “Does Alex know about this?”

“Of course she does, I asked her first,” said Katja. “And she said that if she could, she’d like Tin Can to be immortal so she’d never lose him.”

“And why didn’t you ask me?” asked Emily, standing up with Toothless in her arms. “Better yet, why not ask him? You said you can speak many languages, there must be a spell or something to understand cats.”

“I don’t speak cat,” said Katja. “And I didn’t ask you because I wanted it to be a surprise. I know you said you never wanted to live without him when he got sick last winter.”

“What, so you made it so that he’d have to live without me?” asked Emily. “Oh, great job, now he’s going to be miserable forever after I die of old age or in this battle or something.”

“Actually, I tied his life span to yours,” said Katja. “Like the Soul Steeds with their riders, one cannot live without the other. Only for you it’s just one-way, he will only live for as long as you do.”

“Then how come Anne’s still alive?” asked Emily. Katja rolled her eyes.

“Because you jump to conclusions so much I should give you a jump rope for Christmas,” said Katja. “I only said he was gone, not that he was dead.”

“So then where is he?” asked Emily.

“I don’t know,” said Katja. “They wouldn’t tell me because they know who I’ve been sharing my bed with lately.”

“Well then, you’re a great help, aren’t you?” said Emily, and pushed past her out of her bedroom.

“Where are you going?” asked Katja, turning to follow her daughter out of the house.

“Away,” said Emily, and shut the door in her mother’s face.

Outside, Emily tried to take deep breaths. She set Toothless down on the ground, the cat padding along to jump up onto Henry’s rump.

“Yeah, you know where we’re going,” said Emily, giving her cat a smile and a pat on the head as she mounted her Soul Steed and turned him to ride down the road towards the fort. Emily knew that she needed to think, but maybe her girlfriend would have a better outlook on this- after all, Isebell would no doubt think that Emily’s question was merely hypothetical, like she did every other time Emily brought up real magic around her.

“What’s the matter, lamb chop? You look like the weight of the world is on your shoulders,” said Isebell when Emily dismounted in front of the stage where Isebell had been practicing magic.

“I always look like that,” said Emily, taking her helmet off and hanging it on the saddle horn. It stayed there, mercifully.

“Oh, you brought a kitten!” Isebell squealed as Toothless hopped down onto the cobblestone ground of the fort. Toothless gave her a meow of greeting, eliciting another squeal from Isebell.

“Yeah, that’s my Toothless,” said Emily, picking him up so Isebell could pat him without getting black fur all over her silk outfit.

“Oh, he’s gorgeous,” Isebell cooed.

“He is,” said Emily, smiling. “I have another hypothetical question for you.”

“Then let’s go and have some drinks to ponder over,” said Isebell. Emily grinned, knewing that Isebell meant ‘soft drinks’ when she said ‘drinks’. Isebell didn’t drink either, only she didn’t do it by choice.

“So,” said Emily as their glasses of soft drink bubbled away in front of them and Toothless perched on the back of Emily’s chair far away from the security guard’s puppy. “Hypothetically, if you had an animal’s lifespan tied to yours, so that it could only die when you died, what would you do?”

“Hmm, now that’s a tricky one, poppet,” said Isebell, tapping her bottom lip with her finger. “I suppose that it would help in the case of those who are suicidal, as then they would literally have someone or something to live for. But I would be frightened of getting into danger. Unless the animal would then know when I was in danger. Huh.” She took a sip of her drink. “What would you do?”

“Yell at the one who made it happen,” said Emily. “And feel bad for the poor animal. All of its friends and family will die before it, because animals just don’t live as long as humans. And what if something happened? Say it was Toothless, I’d be too scared to do anything just in case I died and cut his life short early.”

“Well, if the animal was spayed or neutered, they wouldn’t exactly have a family,” said Isebell. “I suppose they could have a mate, a boyfriend or girlfriend, but never have any babies. But think of it this way: how good would it be to have your animal companion by your side forever?”

“It would be nice,” said Emily. She took a sip of her own drink.

“Though, if Diggory lived forever, that might cause some problems,” said Isebell with a giggle. “I’d have to train him to not be naughty.”

“Hey, I don’t want you to end up in jail,” said Emily, giving her girlfriend a smile. Isebell laughed.

“I’d be an old lady, wealthy from the jewels my naughty monkey brought back to me,” said Isebell.

“Which your wife would then return to their rightful owners,” said Emily. Isebell laughed again, her cheeks glowing warmly.

Emily left the impromptu date with her girlfriend feeling much better, her mind eased a lot just by the banter with her. Isebell had to get back to her practice perfomances, and Emily guessed that she did owe her mother an apology, or at the very least, an explanation.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” said Emily, looking back at Toothless as she rode back towards Valedale. Toothless blinked at her, giving a happy little ‘brr’. “You give me unconditional love, and in return I give you…” She blinked away sudden tears. “A cat’s version of immortality.”

At her house, Emily dismounted Henry and put both him and his tack away before picking up Toothless and carrying him back inside. Her mother was, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, still there.

“I’ve thought about it, and I’m glad you made him virtually immortal,” said Emily, standing in the living room in front of where her mother still sat in the armchair. Katja looked up at her, surprised.

“What made you change your mind?” asked Katja.

“Probably Isebell,” said Alex, sitting with her legs crossed and her feet propped up on the coffee table. Emily raised an eyebrow at her, and Alex returned her feet to the floor.

“Yes, actually,” said Emily. “We talked through hypotheticals, and I realised that maybe it’s not such a bad thing if Toothless lives for as long as I do.”

“Does she still not believe in magic?” asked Katja. Emily nodded. “God, how thick can you be?”

“Let her be ignorant and innocent,” said Emily. “I’d rather that than have her get caught up in this mess.”

“Well, we usually try not to get innocents caught up in this unless they’re related to the druids or Dark Riders,” said Katja. “I’ll keep them away from your girlfriend, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” said Emily. “For that and for Toothless. Now, if you could only tell me when you and Alex are going to go to bed, that would be really helpful.”

“I’ll buy you a pair of earplugs,” said Katja.

“Thank you,” said Emily. “I’m going into my room to write, don’t disturb me.”

“I suppose you won’t tell me what it’s about?” asked Katja.

“Nope,” Emily called back, and closed the door behind her.


End file.
